Fifty Seventh: Part 4
by Sampug394
Summary: Fourth and final part of Fifty Seventh - The finality of the 57th Hunger Games sets in, and a cascade of terror and agony descends upon the arena as the remaining tributes fight for survival, drawing the games to an exciting, bloody closure...
1. Chapter 1

**_Part Four of 'Fifty Seventh' - The Endgame is nigh..._**

**_~Nick_**

* * *

_Tree._

_A dead tree._

Aelita's eyes opened, following the trunk of a bare Aspen tree up to the web of branches, forming a spindly silhouette against the light blue sky above.

_Morning._

_Not dead._

She moved away from the sleeping blonde next to her, unzipped the sleeping bag, and sat up, looking at the eerily quiet, wintry forest around her. A nearby bird looked at her briefly, before hopping away on the ground, poking under leaves with curiosity.

Her hand sank down, running her fingers down the shaft of her axe, brushing aside leaves that had begun to cover it overnight.

"Hey."

She jumped, dropping the handle that she had started to lift, turning her head to the blonde when his legs moved.

He then matched her expression with a cheeky smile.

"...Pretty miss."

Her eyes lowered, and he pulled the bag open further, escaping the warm clutches of it.

She pulled both backpacks out from their place under the log, and crossed her legs as he began to dig through them.

"Hope you don't mind the usual meal."

* * *

Half an apple, two crackers and a blob of cheese later, Aelita sat on one of the fallen logs with her backpack, carefully tying the axe to the rope loop around her hips.

"...If anybody's up there, we'll flush them out. Shouldn't be too hard at this point."

With a tug on the knot, Aelita sighed. _Better than just sitting around doing nothing..._

The blonde stood up, kicked some of the leaves around to cover the bare spot on the ground, and stood next to Aelita, palm resting on the machete's handle.

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

She rose to her feet, and they turned and began to walk towards the mountain looming in the distance, hoping the mine high above was still unoccupied.

* * *

Taking a new approach, the pair trudged through the same dead and dying foliage as they approached the uphill slope.

With a breath, Odd's eyes rose up to the sky, and their footfall slowed.

"...You know what I don't get?" Aelita spoke, resting her hand onto the axe.

"What?"

He eyed her briefly, and she sighed in response.

"Its just... I don't-."

Her speech trailed off as a figure nearby sat upright and rubbed his eyes.

_Tatius._

"_What the...?_"

A girl sat upright from his statement, followed by the archer boy, and for a few fleeting seconds, five teens stared at each other in disbelief.

"_It's THEM!_"

Odd snatched Aelita's arm, and both of them fled the scene in a running rush of terror up the hill as three more pairs of footsteps started up just behind them.

"_Keep running, Three and Eight!_"

"_We know where you hide!_"

Jeers yelled from behind kept the adrenaline throttle wide open as the pair scrambled up dirt and rock, pushing hard to keep climbing and running to escape their pursuers.

After several minutes of a non-stop chase, legs grew weak with exertion as the dilapidated mine appeared in the distance above, and Aelita slowed to a walking pace, eyes wide from the frustrated shouts from behind.

"Aelita, you can do it... Its only seconds away!"

She clutched his hand, and her muscles complained greatly as they fought the last stretch of the mountain, clawing their way up loose soil and rocks, and then the yellow tailings pile.

Odd hopped up onto the end of the covered bridge, and with a grunt, pulled an exhausted Aelita up in front of himself. She surrounded him in a hug, but in desperation.

"Where do we go?"

"I don't know."

Her eyebrows contorted with despair, and he breathed quickly.

"I don't KNOW, Aelita!"

"Hide!" She yelped, causing him to turn and tow her along as they dashed across the bridge, and spun around a corner, out of sight. He squeezed her tightly as she clung to him, scared beyond belief.

"This could be it." He breathed.

She trembled, but hearing voices and scuffling sounds approaching, they separated, and withdrew both of their weapons as three pairs of footsteps briefly halted on the wood floor, only to resume walking seconds later, with each step echoing inside the building.

Suddenly, something crashed and buckled, and an object fell from the ceiling as the building briefly shuddered.

"..._What was that?_" The girl, Aquila, spoke.

Two thumps later, and both Odd and Aelita peered into the hallway, watching as their pursuers now stood still, looking at the ceiling above.

Two more thumps, and then the roof of the bridge creaked and groaned, and the boy from 10 quietly began to back away.

Suddenly -

***SMASH***

The wall of the bridge was pierced by a massive beak, and then the head of a creature forced itself inside, screeching angrily as it spotted the humans within, and was then met with the horrified screams of several teens as it thrashed around and thrust its head up, tearing open the sheet metal ceiling with the ease of tissue paper.

A huge pair of thin, sharply clawed legs and feet clutched onto the floor of the bridge as it began ripping the walls and roof of the structure apart as it worked its way inside, causing the other three tributes to begin a hasty retreat from the unfolding chaos back across the bridge.

Sharp bursts of wrenching metal and crunching wood later, Odd and Aelita simply watched in terror as the bridge began to sag in front of them, before shuddering, and collapsing in defeat and tearing a sizable opening into the main structure of the mine.

Through this new hole, daylight revealed the black and grey head, body, and wings of a gigantic bird.

Aelita's finger rose, pointing at it in a stupor.

"Is _THAT_ a Moc-."

Odd's hand covered her mouth, and both of them hunkered down at the edge of the floor, watching as the bird hopped around and dug through the ruins of the bridge lying below, before thrusting its head inside an intact section of it. A scream filled the air, and the bird's body moved around, before jerking its head back out with a human held in its bloody beak.

Aelita spun around and averted her eyes, surrounded then by the blonde's arms as the whoosh of a mighty pair of wings began to flap repeatedly, and the bird took flight, leaving the scene. With its prey.

She shook, staring at the floor below, and Odd kept her securely inside his hug.

"I think... That's what I saw last night."

She leaned her head back against the blonde's.

"That... _Thing_ shouldn't exist."

The crack of cannonfire ripped across the sky, and for a moment, there was silence.

Both of them turned around and stood, and Odd peeked down at the wreckage below that used to be a bridge of some sort.

Then, a shadow was cast over the scene, and his eyes grew wide, grabbing Aelita and running aside, out of view of the hole as the bird returned, slamming down upon the ground and crunching something underneath it.

The pair tucked against the wall, near the old door that sat slightly ajar.

"Don't. Do. Anything." He breathed in a whisper.

Something metal was flung against the wall on the outside, and Aelita gasped in alarm, only to watch as the shadow of a large, feathery head appeared briefly in the sunlight cast through the hole in the wall.

"We've got to get out of here." She warned, shuddering fearfully as they pressed into another hug.

"We won't make it ten feet, Aelita."

Her face sunk onto his shoulder, and both of them stood, trembling as the horrible source of death thrashed around outside.

Then, a voice.

"_YOU!_"

The bird paused, and the voice resumed.

"_You horrible, ugly, flying THING!_"

Several apprehensive, clawed footfalls later, and the voice gained recognition.

"_You killed Aquila... Now I'm going to kill YOU!_"

The bird suddenly sped into motion, and both Odd and Aelita peeked out of the hole as the animal stormed over to the intact end of the bridge resting upon the ground.

Peeking its head inside, it suddenly recoiled in pain and anger as an arrow stuck into its neck, and a sword whistled through the air.

Odd took Aelita's hand, and eyed her face to face to break her away from the scene.

"Let's move."

They gripped their weapons, and she opened the door, pausing as it creaked briefly before stepping outside onto the path leading away from the mine. With only a few steps out the door, both of them stopped and watched as Tatius stormed out of the bridge, facing off against the bird with his bloodied sword.

He stumbled out through the debris, keeping its beak at bay as the archer from 10 repeatedly pelted the monstrous bird with arrows, with little effect.

Evading a foot full of ominously large claws, Tatius swung the sword up into one of the bird's wings, greeted with a spray of blood and a sharp screech, and then unexpectedly, a jumble of debris.

Knocked off his feet, he stumbled to the side out from under chunks of wood, and was beginning to bring the sword up again when he was grabbed by the bird's foot, and simply, helplessly flung into the trees behind.

The three remaining tributes watched and listened as a body flailed through the air, crashing through hundreds of branches out of sight, before coming to rest somewhere.

Punctuated, by the expected blast of a cannon.

The bird looked at its surroundings, and as if on cue, realized that two more humans were standing still nearby. Its head tilted, and both of their eyes grew wide as it stared at them - Only to suddenly leap into the air, and spread its wings as it launched itself right at them.

In a split second, Odd brandished his machete defensively, and every bit of Aelita's being screamed two words:

_Throw. Axe._

She gripped the black bladed weapon in her hand, coiled back like a spring, and then flung it forward with a fierce grunt of terrified energy.

The weapon whistled through the air, and happily imbedded itself into the breast of the huge bird, causing it to falter, but not really preventing its approach.

Odd gripped the sleeve of Aelita's jacket, but just as he began to yank her aside, the bird quite literally crashed into the mountainside they stood in front of, slamming Odd against the earth with its wing, and catching Aelita's arm with one of its claws.

The bird flailed about in horrible pain as it fell away from the wall, having lodged the axe further into itself from the crash, and Odd stumbled over, gasping for air and swinging the machete at it aggressively to drive it away.

The bird screeched horribly, and after several attempts, finally became aloft, and flew away, leaving behind several puddles of blood that ran from its chest, wing and neck as it disappeared from sight.

The blonde then sank down next to her, regaining his breath, and then wiping his eyes.

"Aelita. _Aelita!_"

He rested his hands onto her shoulders, and both of them then noticed the torn sleeve of her jacket as blood began to drip from her wrist onto the ground.

"Get that jacket off. Now." Odd blinked, tearing her backpack off of her, and then helping her delicately remove the piece of attire.

She then sharply inhaled and watched, wide eyed, as blood ran down from a lengthy gash along the bicep of her arm.

"Oh my. Oh my... Odd. This hurts so bad its..."

She looked up at him as he cut both of the sleeves off of her jacket with his machete, and after casting the bloody, torn one aside, he cut the other one open, and then brought it over and placed it over the wound.

She winced, and he took her hand and set it upon it, causing her to gasp and squirm as she started holding the tourniquet in place.

Her eyes found the blonde's, and he sighed sadly.

"We don't have anymore of that stuff we used last time."

She shook her head, waving off his statement.

"...Wouldn't help anyway."

He nodded and then moved over, sitting next to her and resting her arm onto his knee as he held onto the sleeve. Her other hand simply sank down to her lap, and she shut her eyes.

"...Lost the axe."

"...And probably killed the bird." Odd breathed.

Her eyes opened, and both of them watched as the only other survivor, from District 10, slowly disappeared into the forest below. He too, had enough of the horror for one day.


	2. Chapter 2

Aelita sat still as Odd slowly cleaned blood and grime from her skin, sacrificing his own socks for the job. The rope, cut in half, now held the tourniquet around her arm.

His hand rose to her face as he leaned over her, and he wiped her brow and nose, before pausing at her left cheek.

An exhale then turned into a chuckle.

"Its still there."

"The heart?"

"Yeah."

Their eyes met briefly, and he carefully rubbed the sock around the tar.

"Don't get rid of it!"

"I'm not." He smiled, reassuring her as he then turned the cloth over, and cleaned her chin and the opposite cheek.

He then rinsed the sock with a splash of water, and squeezed it out over the edge, before setting it aside and sitting, crossing his legs.

Her eyes lowered to the sock, and her left hand reached over and picked it up.

"Your turn."

He hesitated, but then scooted closer, sitting patiently as she lathered the entirety of his face, and then each hand, individually.

His eyes peeked open, and she tossed the wet, ruined sock aside.

"All done."

"That's it?" He smiled, jokingly.

"Yes, unless it rains or something."

She then leaned over, peeking outside at the blue sky above.

"...Which would be nice."

He nodded, and then crawled over, sidling up next to her against the wall.

"Wash this awful day away."

Her eyes sank, and her left hand moved over and snatched the blonde's.

For a moment, they sat in silence, hands gratefully together again.

"Odd, I don't know about you... But I didn't know birds could get so huge and horrible like that one."

"They're not supposed to."

She looked at him, and he shook his head.

"...That thing was not natural."

Point taken, she looked down at the sleeping bag under them, and breathed a sigh.

"I think we should rest for now."

He leaned over and carefully helped her down onto her back, and then settled down next to her, and pulled the remaining half of the bag over both her, and then onto himself.

"How's the arm...?"

"Hurts."

He snuggled up against her, reached across her stomach, and found her otherwise useless right hand, keeping it safe inside his grasp.

"Tell me when you get hungry... Or need anything."

"Alright." She whispered, shutting her eyes moments later.

* * *

Aelita watched helplessly as the claw of the bird, bleeding profusely from its own wounds, drew a cut into the underside of her chin, before reaching down, and hesitating over her arm as blood spilled down her neck, stinging like acid.

Her face was then shoved to the side, and the bird morphed into the girl from District 7, revealing a knife made from the same claw, before digging it into her arm and slicing it open, grinning as Aelita's face contorted into a pain-riddled scream.

She looked down, seeing a sword imbedded in the girl's chest where the axe previously was, and then watched as the floor below coursed with streams of blood.

"_Aelita_."

A voice lifted her eyes upward, and the girl turned her head fearfully towards it.

"_Aelita..._"

_Dad?_

"_Aelita, wake up_."

"I am awake!"

"_Wake up_..." The voice whispered.

Her eyebrows furrowed, and then relaxed in realization.

* * *

In a snap, her eyes opened, to Odd.

"...There you are."

She took in a deep breath, back in reality, and now feeling the sharp, real pain in her arm.

"Odd."

His hand sank down, brushing a mess of hair aside from her face.

"You were having a heck of a nightmare."

She sighed, sitting still as his fingers worked their way through her hair.

"I was. Saw so much blood... Terrible things."

He brushed a tuft up, running it through his fingers, and then lifted his hand from her head, turning, and beginning to dig through his opened backpack.

"I'm gonna fix dinner... You stay put and keep resting."

She exhaled, closing her eyes briefly.

_Food. And rest._

_Good things._

* * *

_Inhale. Hold. Exhale._

Aelita lay still, watching the ceiling above as her arm throbbed miserably.

Odd moved himself closer to her, holding a roughly cut apple slice in his fingers.

Her left hand rose, but he pushed it back down to the floor, and held the slice in front of her mouth.

"I'm feeding you this time."

Her eyes relaxed, and she carefully bit half of the slice, before chewing and swallowing.

He watched as she claimed the remainder of it from his fingers, and reached back for a single cracker.

After quick consumption, she eyed him, but he shook his head.

"We're gonna need to start finding food by tomorrow."

Her expression changed, and he sighed.

"We don't have very much left."

She turned her head to the side, grimacing from his next statement.

"...Might end up starving again."

* * *

The blonde sat next to Aelita, gripping her free hand in his own. Their eyes stayed together, watching the other tiredly with no movement made or emotion expressed.

Her arm jerked, and she lost concentration, lowering her head.

"Aelita."

She raised her eyebrows slightly, and he breathed.

"What would you do if you win?"

She stared at him. _Win?_

"Uhh... I'd go home and hope everybody around me still considers me human after all this."

He blinked. Not quite the expected answer...

"What about you, Odd? You'd be better off than me."

"Well... I'd make sure my mom and dad and all my little sisters get to eat as much as they want. And then we could leave that tiny little apartment and live in a house."

Aelita lay still, trying to imagine siblings. And then her mom and dad knowing she won the Games.

"I wish I could see your sisters." She whispered.

His eyes sank.

"Me too."

He ran his thumb along her knuckle.

"...And, like you, I wish I could see my mom and dad too."

She looked aside from the thought, and both of them breathed heavy sighs.

"I just hope one of us wins after all."

He gripped her hand again, and she squeezed his fingers in response.

"We will... I mean, we've gotten this far, haven't we?"

"Yeah."

_But there's no guarantee, Odd._

Their attentions arose to the chime of a small electronic tune in the distance, and both of them sat still as it began to echo - Only to watch then, as _two_ silver parachutes coasted in through the hole in the wall nearby, and sank to a halt on the floor one by one.

Odd jumped to his feet and retrieved them, and swiftly returned to Aelita's side as he set the canisters between them.

With a quick jerk, he opened one, and blinked at the contents sitting packaged inside. Two rolls, and two cuts of cooked meat.

"What's in there?" She asked, pointing to the unopened one, and then watching as he forced it open, and lifted a tube of ointment from inside, along with a slip of paper.

"Medicine?"

"Looks like it."

They traded a look, and she carefully pulled the knotted rope around her tourniquet apart, watching as it slid onto the ground below.

"Lets try it."

He set the slip of paper onto her lap and knelt over her, carefully removing the ragged sleeve from her arm.

Both of their eyes spent a moment taking in the angry, bloody gash in her bicep.

He then unscrewed the lid from the tube, and squeezed at least half of the tube's jelly-like contents onto the bloody spot of the tourniquet. After a pause, he quickly wrapped it back around her arm, and her free hand held it on as he began to wrap the rope around it again.

With a slight tug, a knot was formed, and he sat back.

Her eyebrows furrowed as her arm began to tingle, and she frowned as it then grew tense, fingers curling into her palms.

"Do you feel anything?"

Her eyes flitted to his.

"Starting to kinda h-."

Her face contorted, and speech stopped as her arm was suddenly searing with pain.

Odd watched, dumbfounded, as her arm stretched out, and she began to writhe with incredible discomfort.

"Aelita!"

She looked at him, breathing in quick spurts.

"This hurts... Horribly! Are you sure that's _medicine?_"

He looked at the bottle, but was met with familiar medical words and symbols.

"I'm sure!" He blinked, dropping it and grabbing her hands as she groaned agonizingly from the pain.

Then, inexplicably, her fingers relaxed and her arm slackened, and she began to breath slower, regaining her grip on reality.

Her eyes peeked open, and she looked at her arm in disbelief when the pain all but disappeared.

"Better?"

"...I don't know." She breathed, her hand hovering over her arm after the sudden relief.

"Sure looked like that hurt." He sighed, sympathetically.

"Felt like... Searing hot metal stuck in my arm."

"Maybe that's something to drive the pain away."

She shook her head.

"...By making it hurt worse before going away? I hope that torture was the last of it."

She flexed her hand and fingers, met with a dull buzzing feeling.

Odd inspected the tourniquet for a moment, before picking up the slip of paper off her lap.

His eyebrows briefly quirked, and he handed it to her, watching as she pulled it from his finger's grasp.

'_Be Prepared._'

She lowered it, and looked at the blonde.

"Who is this for?"

"I'd say you, but..."

He plucked it from her hand, and re-read it.

"I feel like it might be for both of us."

* * *

A few bites into the rolls and cooked meat later, Odd packed up the rest into Aelita's container, and peeked outside at the already-dark forest in the distance.

"Moon's rising... Let's get some shuteye."

She watched as he pulled off his boots, and then tugged hers off and cast them aside. He then descended onto the sleeping bag next to her, and eyed her pointedly.

She quirked an eyebrow, and a smile quietly arose on her lips as she began an effort to move.

He helped her over, and waited patiently as she settled on top of him, finding a comfortable place on the blonde's body, and a spot to rest her arm as he pulled the bag over both of them, and zipped it up with some work.

Then, just like before, his arms carefully wrapped around her waist, and she exhaled, gripping his fingers, and shutting her eyes.

His chin touched against the hair on her head briefly, and a murmur worked out from her throat, causing him to smile as he closed his own eyes.

_Another day, over._


	3. Chapter 3

Sebastion looked over at Markell as they both walked down a hallway.

"You think they both got the hint?"

"I think so... Sorta hoping she sees beyond the medicine."

"...Still can't believe you got someone to send that stuff."

Markell looked at him.

"Anything else would take days longer to heal."

"It's military grade... There isn't even morphling in it."

"And you have yet to send your lad anything medical. What's your point?"

Sebastion looked down at the floor, eying the marble tile-work.

"I suppose I don't have one."

"At least we got the word out to both of them."

"Assuming they understood it..."

"Maybe they do. If you were in their shoes and you got a vague note like that, I think you'd expect the worst too."

"I doubt there's anything left that's worse than the bird."

Markell looked away briefly.

He too was a left a bit aghast when Panem got its first glimpse of that thing...

"I'm still surprised that thing didn't kill both of our tributes."

Sebastion paused, and eyed Markell.

"I'm surprised our friend Cyprianos hasn't killed them yet... And not just for slaying his mutt." 


	4. Chapter 4

'..._As long as you're strong like daddy, and creative like me, you can get through anything life puts in your way_.'

Her hand touched against Aelita's face, and she pressed her smaller hand against it with a smile.

'_I love you, sweetheart_.'

"_Love you too, mommy_."

She leaned down and pressed a kiss against her forehead, ran her finger under a lock of her hair, and then stood up, and disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

...And then, reality filled Aelita's conscious when her eyes truly opened.

After only seconds of reflection, emotion forced itself out of her throat in a whimper.

Tears drifted down her cheeks, and more were forced out as she shut her eyes.

"...Mom."

* * *

Odd stepped through the forest, being led along by the strangely irresistible melody of Aelita's voice in the distance.

The further he walked through the trees, the closer he got to her voice, the darker the forest became under the gloomy teal night sky.

Passing progressively thicker and rougher groups of vegetation, a light appeared in a distant clearing, and he sped into a brisk pace, approaching it.

Just as he entered the open area, the light visibly changed into an eerily pale form of Aelita in front of a dark cave, and he slowed to a halt as she stopped singing.

"Aelita!"

She looked at him, and simply blinked.

He took a step forward, and her mouth opened.

"Odd, don't..."

"Aelita, we need t-."

"Odd!"

He blinked, pausing briefly.

"What?"

Another two steps forward, and he was met with a stronger shout.

"Aelita, what's going on?" He spoke warily.

She stared at him, eyes wide, and he cautiously stepped forward.

"_Odd! Stop! Stop it!_"

"Stop WHAT?" He grew frantic, continuing to walk closer.

Another shout turned into a scream, and he started to dash forward, suddenly being blasted by a riot of horrible, unmistakeable screams of agony one after another as she began to step back, blood visibly beginning to flow from parts of her body.

"_Odddddddd! You're killing meeeee!_" She wailed, stumbling and crumpling backwards onto the ground as her clothing turned dark red, matching the thick trail of blood along the black ground.

He stood and stared in a stupor of horror, and began to step back in a slow recoil as her cries filled the otherwise soundless air.

After a few steps backward, the cave suddenly expanded, and a pair of large, glowing eyes rose alongside the massive, pitch black silhouette of a gigantic bird's wings.

Unable to move, he watched as the creature's wings unfolded, and for a moment, the screams stopped, and it simply stared at him.

His foot attempted a step back, and in an instant, he was engulfed by a shadow, glimpsing razor sharp, blood-soaked claws just before they found their target.


	5. Chapter 5

Odd jerked out of the nightmare, and his eyes flicked open, taking in the roof above, and realizing Aelita was still laying upon him, living and breathing.

"...Aelita." he breathed.

Her head moved.

"Hey."

He took in a deep breath, feeling her fingers among his own.

"You're alive."

Her eyes moved in an arc across the ceiling.

"I think so."

He sat up, forcing her up with him, and the sleeping bag unzipped itself partially from the movement.

"I had this awful dream, Aelita. Never seen anything like it."

She stabilized herself with her arms, blinking briefly when her right arm moved and held her weight with no pain whatsoever.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He sighed.

"I feel like it will stay with me if I don't."

She turned herself around, eying his disheveled appearance as he looked her over as well.

"...I was following you through this dark forest."

He eyed her, but her expression remained the same.

"...Following your voice, really. The closer I got to you, the darker everything became. At one point, I finally saw you in the distance, and you glowed with this light... Like a ghost."

She rubbed her eyes briefly, processing his retelling so far.

"I got to this place in front of a cave, and you looked at me when I said your name, but you just... Stood there. I started stepping closer, and you started yelling at me to stop..."

"Did you?"

His eyes widened.

"No... I kept asking you what was wrong, and you kept yelling louder. Then you started screaming and I started running, and it just made it worse and worse... You were being hurt or something more and more as I got closer, and you started bleeding and fell over in so much pain and wouldn't stop screaming and I finally stopped moving, but you..."

He stared at her sadly, and she reached up and touched his face.

"...You didn't stop screaming, and I started backing away and you said I was killing you and then the cave turned into that bird and it-."

She put her hand over his mouth, and he exhaled, deflated.

"...And it was all just a nightmare." She whispered.

Her hands sank down and collected his inside her own.

"You're awake, and I'm right here with you."

He squeezed her palms in response, and she watched him as he sat quietly, reflecting upon her words.

Her thumbs caressed his knuckles, and he shut his eyes.

"It scared me. It really did. Everything about..."

His words drifted off when they reopened to her watching him closely.

His eyebrows rose slightly, and she leaned forward, capturing him in a silent, sweet moment of lips locked in a kiss.

_Oh..._

He lifted her arms up, and she daintily pulled her lips away, touching her forehead against his, and looking down at their dirty, scratched and beaten hands, together.

"...You're good at that."

A blush crept across her cheeks.

_Maybe._

"Shutting me up so easily..." He drawled.

Her eyes rose up to his, and he smiled briefly.

Then, the moment drifted away, and both of them sat still.

"...Breakfast?"

"Yeah..." She whispered.

* * *

Aelita sat back against the blonde, head tucked just under his chin, gnawing on the remains of the dinner from the night before.

In the middle of chewing, she watched as he began counting fingers on both of his hands.

He paused with one hand open, confirming it with a grunt before setting it back down onto the floor.

"What was all that?" She spoke.

"...I think there's only five tributes left."

Aelita paused, adding to the brief silence.

"Not much time, is there...?"

"I'm afraid not."

Her eyes lowered to her right arm, and the tourniquet and underlying wound reentered her conscious.

She pulled the rope knot apart, and tugged it off, dropping it aside.

"Let's see if that... _Medicine_ did anything."

Tugging the sleeve off, her left hand simply sank to her lap in response.

She leaned forward and flexed her arm, which now sported a thin red cut across her bicep, and only a small twinge of pain greeted her.

"But..."

Odd peeked over her shoulder, and chuckled in relative surprise.

"I'd say that's... An improvement."

Her finger cautiously touched it, but she winced in immediate response.

"Still healing."

She sat back and briefly stretched the arm, and then relaxed, leaning back against the blonde and smiling as his hands came together, resting on her stomach.

"I bet you're glad you still have it."

"I am." She whispered, shutting her eyes.

_Healing this horrid wound probably cost somebody somewhere a bundle of money..._


	6. Chapter 6

A light sleep brought a blanket of cloud cover over the sky, just after noon.

Growing restless from the quiet ambiance, the pair began to move around, and Aelita began to reorganize the contents of both of their backpacks. Much to her dismay, she discovered that their food was indeed scarce - One apple, and a few tidbits from prior meals. Not even any crackers.

Before she could voice her worry though, the blonde stepped outside.

"Gonna get kindling for a fire... I'll be right back."

She looked down at the backpacks below, and then the short pile of rope.

_If only that axe wasn't gone... How is he going to get firewood anyway?_

Her eyes rose to the nearby hole in the wall.

_Hopefully it doesn't snow again..._

She jumped when the door creaked open, and Odd appeared inside with two fistfuls of grasses and small sticks.

"Got some tinder... Now for wood."

He looked around, and for a moment, stood still.

"Aelita... Do you have my machete?"

She blinked in response.

"No, I don't."

"Have you seen it recently?"

"Not since yesterday." She spoke, slowly growing concerned.

He put his hand to his chin.

"Where in the world did that thing go...?"

He turned around, and Aelita lifted his backpack open in momentary curiosity.

.

Suddenly, his body slammed into the wall next to him, and two different grunts of exertion turned into one yelp of sudden, horrific pain.

She looked up, and recoiled back in a gasp, seeing a blonde girl holding him against the wall, holding his machete that was now buried into his gut.

"ODD!" She shrieked, crawling backwards away from the scene as the girl, now visible as Shimmer, released her grip on him and began to storm over directly at Aelita.

Attempting to stumble to her feet, she was helplessly grabbed by her neck, dragged upright, and slammed hard against the opposite wall.

With a pincer-like grip on her throat, the blonde girl, just as rough and beat up from a week in the arena, stared at Aelita contently as she struggled for breath.

Shimmer's knee then jerked up into her stomach, and Aelita coughed in pain, limbs drooping from a sudden loss of energy as her lungs complained in desperation.

"You two almost had it made... Districts 3 and 8 right?"

She lessened her grip on Aelita's throat, and she barely sucked in a needed breath.

"One of you could have won... Made everybody at home happy and proud... But that's too bad now."

She then tightened her grip even further, met with Aelita's mouth simply quivering, and her green eyes drooping, fighting suffocation.

"Neither of you will go home. Because you'll both be dead. Dead for being the stupid little couple you are."

The grip squeezed even tighter, and Aelita grew limp, tears drifting from her eyes.

_Game over._

Out of nowhere, Shimmer jerked forward, and sucked in a sharp breath in shock.

Her hand loosened, and Aelita watched, taking in a sudden, life-saving rush of air as the blonde girl was torn away from her, and Odd ripped his machete out of her backside.

Aelita slid down against the wall in a daze, taking in gulps of air, and watching as Odd slammed into Shimmer, knocking her down onto the floor below.

Then, he descended upon her, raised the blade in his fist, and thrust it down, stabbing her twice in the stomach.

After ripping it back out, he cast the machete aside, and gripped her by her chin, staring darkly into her eyes as she barely clung to life.

"I hope District 1 is happy and proud now."

He then stood up, grabbed her by her arm, and drug her out and over the edge of the hole in the wall, watching as she tumbled into the debris below.

He then turned around, and after touching his own wound, he stepped over and knelt in front of Aelita, both of them visibly shaking.

"We've got to get out of here... This place is no good for us anymore."

She looked down at the blood on his hands and clothing, and her fingers shakily touched the tear in the front of his shirt, surrounded by a slowly increasing patch of blood.

Her eyes rose, and he shook his head as she stared at him with drastically increasing fear.

A sharp blast of cannon echoed through the air, and she slowly stood to her feet, watching as he struggled upright again.

A few pathetic steps to and out of the doorway, he leaned against the wall, and Aelita's hands set upon his shoulders.

He reached up and put his arm around her shoulder, and she did the same, helping him along as they began to walk forward again, slowly hobbling away from the mine that hosted another round of terror and death.

Odd began to slow significantly as they went, before stopping several times.

His free hand clutched his chest, and his breathing grew labored, and finally, he refused to walk further.

"I can't... I..."

He paused, with a breath.

"Can you... Carry me?"

She exhaled in a whimper.

"I'll try."


	7. Chapter 7

Under the gloom of the clouds above, Aelita finally ran out of steam.

Her feet stopped, and she sank down onto her knees beneath a nearby tree, gently lowering Odd onto the ground below.

Blood openly seeped from the stab wound as she sank down next to him, physically depleted of energy, and losing a battle against emotion as the both of them continued to breath heavily.

She knelt over him, staring at the ugly opening in the front of his stomach and the dark crimson stains in his clothing, until his arm moved, touching her elbow.

"Aelita."

Her eyes rose to his, trying resiliently not to shed tears.

"C-Come here."

His lip quivered, his chest shaking as he convulsed with sharp, painful breaths.

She carefully moved herself, kneeling over him, meeting him face to face just like before.

His hands raised and touched both of her cheeks, and he rubbed his thumb across the small, faded heart on her face as two trails of tears drifted down, meeting his fingers.

"...You're going to win."

She stared at him. More tears drifted to her chin.

"You're going to win. Just like I promised."

He pushed his right hand back into her hair, causing her to silently exhale, and sniff.

His eyes sank, and he grimaced, before reconnecting with her stare, tears sliding down along his own cheekbones.

"I'm... So sorry you're seeing me like this."

Her mouth opened, only to clench shut again. This time, her lips quivered.

"No... You're fine. You're fine, Odd. You're..."

Her breathing quickened, cutting her speech off.

His fingers pulled down through her hair, running back along her jaw before stopping under her chin.

A long moment of desperate admiration, and the knuckle on his index finger gently pushed up into her chin.

"I love you, Aelita."

_Oh no._

Wasting none of their already dwindling time, she sank down and locked him in a simple, silent kiss.

And as she pulled away, her heart quietly, painfully broke in two.

Tears were already streaming down her face as he managed a smile, and their fingers pushed together in one last bid of being together.

Aelita's vision blurred for a moment.

And then, the grip of his fingers relaxed.

Her eyes widened, and her breathing kicked into overdrive as she pulled her hands out of his fingers, and touched the side of his face.

"Odd..."

Her gut twisted and churned. Both hands found his face.

"No. No... Odd. No. Stay with me... Don't..."

Her hands relaxed, and his head slowly lowered to the side in her palms.

"Odd! Don't... Don't leave me like... This."

Her mouth fumbled after the last word, her head drooping down onto his chest.

Her hand settled over his heart, but was greeted with no beat of life, curling her mouth into wretched sorrow.

"I...Love...You."

A thunderous blast from a distant cannon jolted her up, and she looked at the sky in horror, before her eyes descended back down onto the blonde, laying motionless.

Dead.

Her hands drew away from his face, her thumb dragging along his soft cheek, before dropping off his chin.

Sharp, irregular breaths entered and left as her hands shook, and then rose up, pressing up against her temples.

Tears streamed down as she stared, mortified, at the person before her, once so full of life and love.

Now, a slain body on the ground.

Her eyes shut, and she turned away, looking at her surroundings in a blurred haze of heartbroken misery.

_This is exactly why you don't fall in love in the Hunger Games._

Flooded with a horrible mix of anger, guilt and sorrow, she crumpled onto the blonde's body below, curling into a ball and weeping audibly, breathing through gasps and sobs as her heart channeled its anguish out of her, for all of Panem to hear.

But, amongst the endless torment of emotional pain, another feeling began to brew as she wept, drawing from the anger and hatred welling up inside.

Vengeance.


	8. Chapter 8

Shaking. Sobbing.

Her body convulsed, and she crawled off the corpse beneath, rising to her feet, only to drop onto her knees again a few feet away.

Even through blurry, tear filled eyes, her hands were clearly soaked in blood.

_Odd's blood._

_To think that he was alive and well only an hour ago..._

Another round of tears streamed down her face, and she reluctantly stood to her feet, slowly wandering somewhere.

She stumbled over an unseen root, and her hands suddenly flew out in front of her, and were jerked upward as she met the ground.

_Oww._

She inspected her palms, now covered with dirt and other things, and crawled forward, before stopping and simply giving up, dropping onto the ground as her now-sore wrists gave up as well.

_Odd..._

Her mouth opened, and a miserable sigh seeped out, followed by more tears as memories flooded in, merely from his name.

* * *

_Broken._

Her eyes wandered up into the sky above as she lay on the ground.

_Heart, soul, motivation. Everything, broken._

Even their fleeting flame of love couldn't save the blonde's life.

But he still kept his promise.

_...To think I feared he would kill me too._

She sighed, feeling pain in every breath.

Then, her hands reached up and touched her head when she remembered his mention of sisters... And parents.

_Oh no._

Her eyes shut tightly as she curled up into another ball, struck with another round of terrible realization.

_Oh nooo... Family. And now he's gone._

She peeked at the sky above, and then looked away in anguish.

"I'm... Sorry." She choked, hoping they heard her amongst their own sorrow.

* * *

She sat still, arms wrapped around her legs, mind dark and clouded with misery and heartache. And so much anger...

_Odd's dead. Because of Shimmer. District 1._

_District 1 sends in a tribute every year just like everyone else..._

Her eyes narrowed.

_Shimmer was just a tribute. She's dead now._

_Not District 1._

_The Capitol. The Games. This awful game... For the Capitol's entertainment._

Her blood boiled as she sat up.

_My life's ruined forever after all this murder and bloodshed... All for other people's enjoyment._

_Families ruined. Love... ruined forever._

Her heart ached sharply from the thought, but she forced emotion down as she stood to her feet.

_Everything I know is ruined... Why not shove some of the ruin right back?_

Her eyes narrowed, suddenly remembering the rusty metal drum of gunpowder sitting inside the mine, and her feet sped into motion as her heart began turning the misery into adrenaline.

_I killed that stupid bird... Why not one-up the gamemakers again..._


	9. Chapter 9

Her running slowed as the dilapidated, partially destroyed mine came into view.

Then, wandering up onto the path, a trail of blood was visible.

She paused, taking in a breath, before pushing open the old door.

Stepping inside the dark room, her boots stepped into liquid, and she froze for a moment, seeing the backpacks, and then a lot of blood on the floor.

Her stomach grew unsettled, but she quickly stepped over to the nearby tunnel, finding the container and then pulling the lid off.

The grey, sand-like powder greeted her eyes, and she tossed the lid aside with a clatter, before gripping the container, and stepping aside as she tipped it over, spilling a large pile onto the floor below.

Surprised by the amount of gunpowder, she drug the container aside, and kicked the pile, spreading some of it along in a line towards the door.

Finding the backpacks again, she tossed hers aside, stuffed the container of food into Odd's along with the slingshot, zipped it up, and swung it around her arm, before kicking more of the powder along towards the doorway.

She then paused, and wandered over, barely keeping her stomach's unhappiness at bay as she then found the machete, which was coated up to the hilt in blood, sitting atop the sleeping bag that also sported a puddle of blood.

Swallowing both heartache and sickness down, she picked it up and quickly walked out of the doorway, wiping the blade off on nearby tufts of grass, and then pressing it into a patch of leftover snow.

She then inspected it, before turning around and kneeling, opening the backpack and pulling out the old chunk of flint.

With tentative steps towards the doorway, she poked back inside, finding the tuft of tinder grass nearby and spreading it out onto the end of the tail of gunpowder.

Taking a preparative breath, she held the flint next to the machete, and struck it.

_Nothing._

Another attempt, and still nothing.

She touched her hand to the floor, greeted with smooth, old metal.

_Maybe this'll work..._

She held the stone over the floor, and with a quick jerk, was greeted with a brief shower of sparks.

Her eyes widened when the tinder bloomed into a flame, and her heart instantly sped up when grains of the powder began to burn and fizzle.

Then, a consistent hiss of burning filled her ears, and she dropped the flint rock, turned, and began to run back down the path in terror.

Then, looking over her shoulder seconds afterward -

***KA-BOOM***

A flash, shockwave, and then a fireball erupted as the walls of the mine were blasted apart, greeting her ears and eyes with a symphony of destruction as the roof caved in, and the structure collapsed and tumbled down onto the debris of the bridge below.

With a few wisps of smoke rising from the twisted mess of metal and wood, she turned and slowly began to walk down the mountainside, gripping the machete in her hand.

_There, gamemakers. Just ruined your building that helped ruin my life..._


	10. Chapter 10

Markell sat on the couch on the third floor of the apartments, watching the television with a mix of admiration and worry.

_Odd's dead, Aelita's miserable, and now she just blew up the mine._

_Revenge was clearly on her mind... Or she was just suffering a bout of destructive rage._

_Probably both._

He took another bite of the sandwich on a nearby plate.

_With Odd gone, Sebastion's gone too... Poor guy. No point in staying for the games when both of your tributes are dead._

_Aelita however, is still alive. Even after the close call that ended up killing that boy._

His eyes sank, remembering the public's particularly adverse reaction of Odd's death. Her anguish, clearly visible, and their untimely declaration of love, sure lit an unhappy fire under a lot of their fans.

He sighed.

_Hopefully she'll keep herself together... And can handle two more deaths._

He swallowed, and touched his hand to the side of his face.

_Two more kills, and Aelita might just win._

He looked at the television again as it changed to the Archer from 10, and then to his own dismay, Lucent.

_Ohhh... That's not good._

_Whatever you do Aelita... Don't be the one to kill him._


	11. Chapter 11

Night fell swiftly across the arena as Aelita moved down the mountain, wandering aimlessly deeper into the dead, wintry forest. Machete in hand, and barely enough of anything to survive with in the backpack, her body simply kept moving along. Intent on survival.

Her mind, dark and in a miserable haze, somehow had the will to continue, forcing her shattered heart to cooperate. Barely.

_Survival... A bug would make a better opponent than me right now._

Her eyes wandered up ahead of her as the breeze slowly picked up, and then refused to die down after some time.

_Stupid wind. Go away._

The cold air brought back the wetness around her eyes and on her cheeks, and she rubbed them with her two fingers, realizing a moment later that she just smeared blood and dirt onto her face.

She eyed her hands, both visibly dirty and caked with dry blood, and then stopped walking, rubbing them together in a moment of frustration.

With hardly anything coming off, her arms sank, and she angrily gripped the machete in her hand, suddenly throwing it into the distance in front of her in a growl of anguish and disgust.

She then exhaled, and closed her eyes in a grimace, before stepping forward and finding the cast-off blade sitting among the leaves.

_Everything's so horribly wrong. I can't even think straight or function anymore..._

She wandered off to the side, and finding a small spot between a sizable rock and a tree, she sank down and curled into a ball around the tree, taking off the backpack and setting it under her head as a pillow.

_Might as well just lay here and die... What's the point to winning anymore._

Tears found their way back down her cheeks as she shivered from the wind.

_The point of winning anymore... To avenge Odd, and return home. Return to District 3..._

_Return, a victor._

_Return as a tragic example for the rest of the youth in Panem._

_Oh, the feeling of being pathetic..._


	12. Chapter 12

Her eyes reopened to a brighter, grey sky above.

With several blinks, the silhouette of the dead forest became clear, as did the jacket, backpack, boots... _Bloody hands, matted hair_...

She uncoiled from the tree, and sat up, pulling the backpack on.

_Not dead._

_How._

Her hand found the machete, and she stared at the blade as it still happily reflected light. An omnipresent reminder that the Capitol is still there somewhere. Watching.

She took in a breath, and with every part of her body protesting, stood to her feet, which were asleep and buzzing from a lack of blood.

She walked the feeling off, and eyed her surroundings again.

_Level ground, still the same stupid trees... Rocks. Too many leaves._

She exhaled, dull with aches and various pains, and walked along in some direction, with not a clue or care as to where she was headed.

_Something was out there somewhere..._

* * *

Trudging along, her boots kicked through and crunched leaves in a constant monotony of sound.

Pausing for a moment, and reaching for her backpack to get the canteen of water, she slowly realized that leaves were still crunching nearby.

Footsteps that were not her own.

She tucked the strap of the backpack back over her shoulder, and sank down onto her knees, gripping the machete defensively and keeping her head on a swivel towards the source of the noise.

The steps seemed to get closer, and her skin crawled as her heart reluctantly sped into gear.

_Somebody, a tribute... Way too close._

She hunkered down closer to the ground, but then jumped when the steps suddenly hurried into a run.

Then, the twang of a string, and a sharp yelp as a projectile found its target. A voice, male, breathed rapidly and growled in exasperation, but within moments, the area grew silent after a body fell to the ground.

Suddenly punctuated by the bone-chilling blast of a cannon.

Aelita's eyes grew wide as she cautiously stood to her feet, continuing forward and trying to make as little sound as possible.

A stick snapped under her boots, and she ducked near a sizable rock, riddled with adrenaline as suspiciously quiet, reserved footsteps made their way closer.

_Dead. So very close to being dead._

The footfall silenced, and her eyes sank.

_So much for the valiant effort..._

A distant shuffle of branches, and Aelita turned, peeking over her shoulder around the rock, and then carefully crawling around it, seeing nothing beyond.

_Gone?_

She peeked around the rock again, growing puzzled as the source of sound quite literally vanished from the area.

Turning and looking the other way, she gasped in unexpected horror as a tribute, bow and all, suddenly appeared right in front of her.

Recoiling from her gasp and walking right into her, the boy instinctively drew an arrow from the quiver on his back, but watched helplessly as she stood and lunged at him, colliding into him and plunging the machete in her hand directly into his stomach.

He looked down at the weapon in her hands, and then up to her face when she stared at him in mortified realization.

"You."

He dropped the bow from his hand, and she looked down at the machete, relinquishing her hands from it, and watching as he pulled it out of himself, dropping it in front of her, soaked with blood.

She stepped back as he sank to his knees, but then reached forward and helped him down onto his back as he began convulsing with pain.

"You're the archer... From District 10."

He nodded, watching as she then looked at the wound, reminded suddenly and horribly of another person who suffered the same fate only hours before.

He reached up and touched her arm, and she looked at his face as he eyed her, clinging to life.

Tears welled up instantly, and she swallowed.

"I never thought... I'd be the one to kill you."

His expression changed as she clung onto his wrist, and set it down onto his chest.

"I'm... Sorry. I know its too late... But I'm sorry. For you. And your family... And your district."

Tears welled up in his eyes from her words, but just moments after he shut them, his head slowly rolled to the side, limp.

Aelita stared down at the boy, tears openly streaming from her face.

Darker skin and black hair, but exactly the same picture from hours before.

_Dead._

_Another person dead, thanks to my actions._

She stood and turned around, but after a few steps forward, she ripped her backpack off and threw it aside in a shriek of miserable anger, before crumpling to the ground and grabbing fistfuls of the leaves, throwing them every which way in a barrage of exertion, and growling in a gutteral, teeth-gritting scream until she ran out of breath.

_Dead. So many people dead..._

"Whhhyyyyyyyyy..." She moaned, face pressed into her hands.

_Love, friendship, a bunch of young boys and girls. Dead._

_So much death... So much death..._

She crumpled onto her side, stiff and shaking, but then watched as her hair began to shuffle around, and leaves started to be blown aside as a current of wind descended upon her.

Her head turned, and her eyes took in the strange silver thing that slowly descended upon her from above, and her body grew numb as something began to lift her from the ground.

Her head moved to the side, and she watched as she slowly lifted above treeline, seeing the mountain rising in the distance, and then, darkness.


	13. Chapter 13

_Another blur._

Blackness, to the dim interior of a cargo hold, to bright lights, people, and then drifting along under a concrete roof, into a sterile white room.

Something pricked her left arm, and a strange, dull sensation flooded her skin, inexplicably lowering her into a fuzzy state of sleep.

* * *

Fading in and out of reality, she awoke from a terrible medley of images and nightmares, to a different picture in the real world each time.

Her heart ached helplessly, and when alone, she sat and cried until no more tears drifted down her cheeks, before fading back to sleep again.

* * *

After several awakenings, she moved her right arm up, staring at the clean, soft skin that greeted her eyes.

With a moment of clear cognitive memory, she then lifted the sleeve of the gown up, and stared, dumbfounded, at the little line on her arm.

All that remained of a previously horrible wound.

Her head flopped back, and within moments, her eyes shut from the dim light inside the room, and she faded away again.

* * *

The next time her eyes opened, a strangely familiar scene greeted her eyes as a brunette man sat nearby, looking somewhere into the distance.

"Mmmmmark." She mumbled.

He looked at her in surprise, and sighed as her arm reached up to him.

"Aelita... How do you feel?"

She simply shook her head, and he held her hand with his own.

"Where..."

"In the treatment center."

Her eyebrows moved, and he scooted closer, squeezing her hand.

"You won, Aelita."

Her mouth opened in a breath, and he smiled, still in relative disbelief.

"You survived the games. You're a victor."

She exhaled, processing the words.

_I won._

_The games. Over. I won. I survived._

Her eyes flicked back up to him.

"I'm a V... Victor."

"District 3's victor." He whispered. "I heard they're quite proud of you."

Her eyes sank down to the bed she lay upon.

_I survived. Everybody else died._

"They're going to wean you off the Morphling soon... Give you a day or so to recover. I'll be around if you need someone to talk to."

She slowly nodded, and the bed moved briefly as he stood up, set her hand onto her lap, and then released it and walked away.

_I survived._

_Why did I survive..._


	14. Chapter 14

_Morphling._

_Fuzzy sleep stuff._

She watched as the lights were turned off inside, and a small floor lamp flicked on, reflecting off the ceiling in a ghostly white-teal glow.

Her eyes slid shut again, and her mind slowly processed the sad, vivid memories from just a week before.

_Twenty four starting alive, twenty three ending dead._

_Love found, nurtured, and then pathetically lost._

Content with being cognizant, but too tired to function properly, she faded back to sleep, but this time, without the aid of Morphling.

_Sleep._

_Safe sleep._

* * *

_...Sad sleep._

She reawakened hours later in a fresh round of tears, witnessing a new jumble of persistent, sorrowful nightmares.

_No matter how fast you run, no matter how much you scream, no matter how close the warmth of his skin gets..._

_He's never coming back._

She turned on her side, and the tears simply spilled over her cheek and along her nose.

_Odd's never, ever coming back._

Her hands settled onto her hair as she curled up, pressing her mouth against her knees on the bed.

_Only a few fleeting days, his lips and heart were mine, and mine were his._

_And now... Gone forever._

_Anybody saw this coming. Anybody but us. We accepted impending death, and it was so easy to accept... Love._

_And now here we are. Worlds apart._

_Here without the other, one way or another..._

_I should have just died. Then I could return to mom and dad, and reunite forever with Odd. No longer bound to this sad world._

_But now, here I am. A vegetable that survived manufactured hell for a week._

_A victor. Of the weary, industrial district 3._


	15. Chapter 15

_Shower._

Aelita sat, eyes closed, in a shower under the cascade of warm, clean water.

_Two weeks ago, I dreamed of my parents on occasion, awaking from the same old vision of their death, the same old scene of being evicted from the estate, and the little bits over the years of growing up on my own._

_Now, my conscious is racked by death and blood. One week inside a ghostly winter arena hosted twenty three murders, and I caused two of them._

_Two lives I can never replace, and another that can never be replaced in my heart. Not to mention twenty more that never got the chance to grow up in the dark, sad country of Panem._

_I didn't deserve survival, and didn't really want it. But here I am. A miserable shadow of myself._

_Victorious. And scarred forever._

Aelita wrapped herself inside two towels, and sat on a nearby bench, her hair soaked and dripping water in steady streams onto the floor.

She brought one towel up and vigorously dried her hair, and then tied it back around herself, leaning against the wall on her shoulders in silence.

Her eyes wandered over to her bed, and she craned her neck, spotting a selection of brightly colored clothing spread out upon it.

_New clothes?_

_That can mean only one thing._

* * *

Quiet literally seconds after getting dressed, three people appeared through the doorway nearby with Markell following slowly behind, and all three suddenly burst into elation as they ran up, surrounding her in a trio of hugs as her recognition suddenly clicked.

Stylists.

"You won, Aelita!"

"I had faith you'd pull through to the end."

She looked at the woman, now sporting two-toned colors in her hair and just like before, she simply succumbed to tears as she squeezed her arms around Aelita.

"I think we all are quite proud of our victor." Markell spoke up, appearing in front of her as the stylists continued to share hugs.

"...But lets get back to the apartment. I think she's feeling a little claustrophobic in here."

_Yes. Believe me, this sterile room feels like a brightly light tomb._

"Yes, yes! We need to cleanse her anyway... Poor dear sure could have used soap in that arena."

Aelita nodded repeatedly, and within moments, was ushered out of the treatment center by her entourage, and into an awaiting car in an underground garage.

* * *

Minutes later, she was then ushered right back out and led into the training center apartments, noticeably devoid of people in the lobby as they headed to the elevator.

The whole building now hosted nothing but empty rooms, on every floor but #3. A ghostly reminder of what took place in only one week.

_So much death, in only one week._

Her eyes closed, only to reopen when the elevator car stopped moving upward, and the doors opened to the familiar insides of the apartment.

A mirage of memories during training surfaced as she walked inside, filling her eyes with pictures of a time when everybody was simply preparing to kill and die.

_Blunt, sad truth. Tributes are celebrities, and then all but one die._

_It's weird to think of being a celebrity now. I survived. And now I'm popular for evading death and committing murder._

Her should was shaken lightly, and she broke her focus from the dining table.

"We're going to bathe you again, and then you'll be dressed up in something absolutely marvelous for the interview tonight!"

She stared blankly at the stylist.

"...Interview?"

"Yes, silly! Every victor is interviewed after the games. You'll be looking lovely again by then, so don't worry."

She swallowed, and was then dragged along by her arm towards her bedroom.

She looked at Markell as he watched with slight amusement, and then exhaled as she passed her old bed, going into the bathroom.

_More interviews and cameras. I forgot they existed after I almost died repeatedly._


	16. Chapter 16

Aelita looked at the mirror, watching as her hair was continuously brushed and trimmed.

The female stylist was busily bringing her fingernails back to an acceptable level, and the other male was delicately erasing what remained of the scar on her arm.

The girl in the mirror hadn't seen herself look normal in ages.

"Aelita, we wanted to ask you something... But its up to you."

Her eyebrow rose.

"What?"

The stylist brushing her hair paused.

"You probably haven't seen... But the little heart on your cheek became quite popular among your fans. We were just curious if you'd allow us to replicate it."

_Oh._

_Odd's little tar heart._

Her eyes found her completely clean cheek in the reflection, and then the stylist as she slowly shook her head no.

"...That's what I thought, to be honest."

He resumed brushing her hair, and her eyes sank.

"It'd be too painful."

The other two stylists looked at her briefly, and the woman sighed sadly.

Aelita then stared back at the girl in the mirror, and another old thought found its way back into her mind.

"Do you have the dress?"

The stylist brushing her hair blinked.

"We do... We kept it just like you said."

"Good. I want to take it home... Whenever I get to go home."

She then closed her eyes.

_Home. District 3._

_I never imagined returning there._


	17. Chapter 17

Aelita wandered back to the door leading to the balcony after stuffing herself with food at lunch.

_Rich, Capitol food. Food I didn't expect to eat again._

She stepped through the opened door onto the concrete, and was instantly greeted by a warm midday breeze, and a distant roar of cheering in the square down below.

Thousands of people were gathered, watching the massive screens as blurry highlights of the games were replayed.

After only seconds of watching, she averted her eyes and looked at the mountains on the horizon, taking in a deep breath as the breeze teasingly swirled around her arms and legs.

Her shirt, loose and soft and made of various shades of light green, and an equally loose and soft dark grey skirt rippled from the wind.

The crowd below grew eerily silent, and her eyes cautiously drifted down to one of the screens.

All it took was a glimpse of a campfire, and she turned and walked back through the door.

_No need to relive that right now..._

Her eyes rose when Markell motioned her over to a nearby couch, and she settled onto the soft leather next to him as he removed his sunglasses.

"I think you got a good enough glimpse of your fans... But we need to chat about a thing or two."

She looked at him vaguely, and he read her expression quite well.

"...But have this first."

He handed her a glass of green liquid, and she looked at it, before eying him.

"You earned it, believe me."

_Oh. Liquor._

She lifted the glass to her lips, and drank a gulp of the liquid, feeling a slightly tingle on her tongue and throat.

"Is this..."

"You'll be fine by tonight."

She drank another gulp, savoring the strange tingle in her mouth until it faded away again.

"Now... Aelita, you're alive. But you're not off the hook."

She audibly swallowed.

"Why's that?"

"Its a combination, really... Let's just say you really pushed your luck with some things."

Her expression quickly, unhappily changed.

"Pushed my _LUCK?_ Are you going to tell me people are upset that I barely survived?! If people want me dead for everything I've done, then why didn't they just kill me?"

His expression turned grave.

"Because they needed a victor... But there was a time or two that the gamemakers were really tempted to snuff you out."

Her skin grew cold.

"...But you tended to redeem yourself with popularity. The boy too. Both of you had several sponsors ready to send anything your way, and you didn't even know it. Half the time you were doing well enough with your own efforts that you didn't need anything. The head man, Cyprianos, was impressed."

She stared at him.

"And he still wanted to kill me?"

"Not quite... He was walking a tightrope between President Snow and the Capitol's people."

Her eyes sank to the glass, and after a moment, she lifted it and drank several gulps, sitting still as her mouth and throat buzzed with a strange feeling of energy.

"What did I do to make people angry?"

"Well... I think part of it was the citizen's outrage too."

She blinked.

"But..."

"Not at you... At the gamemakers. The other night when your... Friend perished, you sure had a grip on the audience. The Capitol's own loyal subjects protested right after it happened. Didn't get anywhere, but it sure opened a few eyes."

She huffed.

"That's it? How am I in trouble for that?"

"You also spitefully blew up the mine, and pretty much single-handedly killed the big bird."

Her hand covered her face.

"What was the point of the gunpowder then, and WHY is anybody angry that I helped kill the bird? That thing ATE somebody and killed two others! It was a monster! There could have been nobody left if it didn't die!"

"I can't answer the gunpowder part since it was so conveniently placed... But the gamemakers were controlling the bird. Somewhat. They were the reason why you didn't see it from day one."

Her face darkened.

"So _THEY_ murdered people with the monster bird? I don't feel bad for killing it anymore. I don't feel bad about the stupid mine either! People DIED in there! I almost died in there! You think I CARE about the well being of a building when people were MURDERED inside it?!"

Markell's mouth opened, but then shut as her fist curled around the glass.

"I couldn't care less about what ANYBODY thinks of my actions! Do you have ANY IDEA what I just lived through?! NONE of you Capitol people have ever been stuck inside a arena with a bunch of psychotic kids that try to find and kill you during every waking moment of your life! You've never been strangled or sliced open, you've never watched yourself openly bleed from horrible wounds, you've never had to worry about starving or being attacked again..."

Her eyes shut as she began to sob.

"...You've never watched someone you love die right in front of you..."

She stood up, and in a miserable grunt of anger, threw the glass across the room, storming away to the bedroom as tears streamed down her face.

"None of you... Know... What its like."

The door slammed shut, and all three stylists, unintentionally an audience, huddled around the couch as Markell pressed his fingers into his forehead in a sigh.

"Leave her be."


	18. Chapter 18

Aelita sat at the dining table, staring at an empty plate.

_I barely survived. And people are upset that I even came back alive._

_People that don't matter in my life. People that aren't from District 3. People that don't know the feeling of being alone. The feeling of having love ripped out of your heart again. The feeling of being lost and not understanding your purpose for existence._

_The heavy feeling of remorse for even being a victor._

_Odd should have survived. At least he has family... Sisters, and a mom and dad._

_Now he's gone forever._

Her insides boiled.

_I have to help them. Somehow. I just need to get home first and figure out everything._

_I can't let them suffer anymore after losing him._

* * *

Hardly a dinner later, Aelita was led into her bathroom again by her stylists, and was transformed from a miserable, broken survivor, back into a young, innocent woman.

Sadly, the makeup could do nothing to hide the trauma and heartache. Now it was a ploy for sympathy after a week of terror and murder.

Lifted to her feet, she stepped around in a circle, and the stylists watched with appreciation as the light greens and yellows of her dress swirled around. Waving back and forth. _Just like..._

She watched the reflecting lines of light on the dress closely.

_...Just like grass. The grass of a field._

She watched as a ring of flowers was delicately tucked into hair, and then eyed the girl in the mirror one last time before being led out into the bedroom.

_She doesn't look so bad after all._

"I think you three pay the most attention to me out of anybody."

They beamed as they adjusted several small things, and Aelita stepped into a heeled pair of shoes, pausing for a final round of adjustment before being led out of the door, back into the main area of the apartment.

She watched as Markell cautiously approached, but his demeanor was different from before.

"Aelita..."

She slowed to a stop, and looked up at him.

"First off, you look wonderful. Secondly... I'm sorry for overloading you earlier. I just wanted you to know what's going on so you didn't wander cluelessly into a major blunder."

She nodded with a breath, and he stuck his hands into his pockets.

"Good luck... And be careful with what you say. You're going to have a lot of people very eagerly listening to you."

"I will."

Her heart slowly increased in speed as she stepped into the elevator with the stylists. Another televised interview was near, and she had no clue what to expect.

_How unfortunately familiar._


	19. Chapter 19

'_Odd Della Robbia... This year's victor, of the fifty-seventh annual Hunger Games!_'

The iconic voice of Caesar Flickerman rang through her imagination as she envisioned the scene again inside the car.

_Fancy that... Odd winning, and me dead. I wouldn't have to worry about anything anymore, because I'd be gone and he'd return to District 8 and his family._

_Instead, here I am, on my way to an interview to talk about how I barely survived. Not a single mention of going home yet, and nothing to go home to in the end anyway._

_Congratulations, me._

The car drew to a halt, and the doors opened to the garage of the theater as she stepped out into the stark, bare concrete environment.

A group of four peacekeepers joined her entourage of stylists as they walked towards the entrance, only to stop at the door as they went inside.

Passing through several more doorways, she suddenly found herself in a strangely familiar square room, and with the turn of a corner, a hallway opened up to another door, and a television screen sat on the wall next to it.

"It's just like before, Aelita. You'll know when to go on stage."

"Just stay calm and don't be worried. We'll all be watching up there in the seats."

She turned to the woman, but was met with a hug instead of advice.

"I'll do my best..." Aelita spoke weakly.

Then, with an exchange of looks, the three stylists disappeared through the previous door, and the room suddenly became a vacuum of silence.

_Brooding, sinister silence._

Her eyes scanned the room as she looked around.

_Last time it was this quiet... Was in the launch tube under the arena._

Seconds later, the screen in the distance switched on, and audio flooded through the speakers, making her skin crawl as she looked at the picture on the screen.

_Caesar. Riling up the audience. For me._

She walked away, peering around the corner at the door, but was then struck by a completely different memory.

_Rounding the corner to a blonde in a tuxedo._

_Back when twenty two others stood in here too._

She averted her eyes and shook her head, driving the memory out of her vision as she walked back down the hallway to the screen.

She jumped as the door opened, but paused when she saw who it revealed.

"...Mark?"

He held his finger to his lips, and then reached over, scooping her inside his arm and pulling her through the doorway into the darkness of the backstage.

"How are you feeling?"

She sighed, her heart speeding up as the audience's cheering increased in the distance.

"...Terrible. I don't know what to say, and everywhere I turn I'm either worried, scared, or suffering from some sad memory."

He squeezed her into a hug.

"You'll do fine. And as soon as this is over, you're going home."

She blinked, and he smiled from her silence.

"...Yes, I said it. You'll be back in District 3 by tomorrow morning, and I'm coming with you."

_What?_

"But... Don't you live here in the Capitol?"

"Yes, but the higher ups decided I have to keep an eye on you... Being an orphan and all. Somebody didn't like the idea of you being alone in the victor's village."

Her heart pounded as he looked at the curtain nearby.

"Victor's village...?"

He reached over and grasped her arm, bringing her over to the hidden entrance onto the stage.

"You'll see... Brace yourself."

She turned around, watching as he vanished into the darkness, and then swallowed as her attention turned back to Caesar's words booming over the crowd.

_Interview, and then home._

_Everybody in the world must be watching right now._


	20. Chapter 20

"...And now, the moment we all have been waiting for!"

She exhaled, riddled with nervousness.

"District 3's very own, Aelita Schaeffer!"

Her eyes grew wide as the theater audience roared to life in applause, and she stepped out into the light, briefly imagining Markell shoving her out.

Her eyes took in the massive scale of the building and audience inside as she walked onto the stage, heels clicking and heart thumping somewhere among all the noise.

The dress, reflecting and waving with movement, gave off a distinct appearance of a wind-blown field of grass, only ceasing to move when she took Caesar's hand, and sat down next to him.

Her head turned toward the audience briefly, watching as thousands of people applauded her for simply being there, after all the terror she went through. The noise then died down, fading to silence as Caesar's arm lowered down to the arm of the chair, and bringing her attention back to him.

_Orange hair and all._

"So, Aelita... Here we are again."

"Yeah."

Her eyes rose up to his, and he leaned forward in the chair.

"How does it feel... To be a victor?"

She swallowed.

"It's strange, I... Really didn't imagine winning."

"No?"

She shook her head.

"Now when I look back... I wonder how I survived at all. With everything that happened and everyone I encountered."

His head turned, and a massive screen lit up behind the chairs.

"Speaking of which, we've got quite a movie to show from this past week."

A sudden explosion of excitement from the audience combined with unfortunate surprise as her head turned, and thousands of eyes watched as the screen faded black, then showing the crimson flag of Panem, and giant bold letters:

**57TH HUNGER GAMES**

She watched the screen, only to have her chair carefully turned by Caesar before he reclined back in his seat.

Then, the pictured faded to an overview of the golden horn, and all of the tributes rising into the tree-filled arena on the pedestals surrounding it.

_Oh no._

She sat, heart pounding, as individual views of the tributes appeared one-by-one, moving clockwise around the circle.

_Ohhhh no._

Her hands gripped the arms of the chair as Odd appeared briefly, and twelve tributes later, she appeared at the end.

_Not prepared for this. Not prepared in the slightest._

Her own expression on the screen defined her feelings perfectly - Silent, mind racing desperation.

_Nobody told me I was about to relive this nightmare again!_

She looked at Caesar, but he simply returned an excited smile, forcing her eyes back to the screen.

The sudden blast of a cannon startled everybody in the theater as the area around the cornucopia swirled into motion, followed by quick swipes of the fast tributes grabbing weapons - And then blood.

Death after death was shown in quick succession of scenes of the cornucopia bloodbath, and then brief cuts of Odd, some small boy, and one of the careers running into the trees, and a suddenly portrayal of Aelita fighting over the axe with the District 7 boy, punching him, grabbing the backpack, and running away in terror as the boy was then stabbed, and a knife stuck into a tree just behind her.

After several views of tributes dispersing and a few careers banding together, it instantly switched into the first encounter with the girl from 7 as the sword whistled through her backpack and cut her side.

_Yes, that could have been a lot worse..._

After the fight, night fell across the arena in a time-lapse, with glimpses of tributes setting up camps and hiding in the darkness, including a glimpse of Aelita's first cave.

Suddenly, the theater was blasted by another loud explosion - Thunder.

Flashes of lightning, and out of nowhere, a mid-morning chase up the mountainside.

Aelita cringed, knowing what was coming.

An axe suddenly found its way inside a body, a knife dropped, and the axe came back out as a body crumpled to the ground, and Aelita ran away into the woods beyond.

Even a glimpse of her vomiting made an appearance before the picture changed to rainstorm that followed, and the audience audibly whispered.

Several tributes trudged through the rainstorm, and Odd was shown again, hiding under the bridge of the mine to stay out of the rain.

Another time-lapse suddenly spun the footage to the next morning, filled with fog, and as the sun rose, theft!

Meat and rope, and then the holster for the axe, and out of nowhere, Aelita's little rear-shaking dance to test the strength of the knots.

A rise of laughter from the audience behind made her blush slightly, but the cameras followed her up the mountain, suddenly showing a glimpse of Odd... Going down the mountain.

An air of excitement rose in the theater, and Aelita's heart began to beat hard as both tributes drew closer together, until...

_Reunited._

Her heart throbbed painfully as she and Odd found each other, and he pulled her up from the ledge and onto himself in a hug, and within seconds, they both began moving along the mountain, happening upon the mine, and spying on the career camp underneath, before moving around below, barely avoiding detection, and wandering behind the smokestack as the sun set, and the moon rose.

Discussion and emotion was quite visibly shown, and Aelita stared at the screen, recalling every word spoken.

_Trust. And how I didn't know if I could trust him at..._

The scene changed to them sneaking up into the top floor of the mine, and then snuggling together inside the sleeping bag.

_...First._

More whispers from behind, and the picture time-lapsed again to snowfall, the pair waking up, and suddenly, night again, as they cooperatively distracted the careers and stole dinner.

The district 4 boy suddenly died from a sword, and the pair cuddled together again, and the scene changed to several tributes huddling by fires in the snow, and a sudden repeat of the day before as their second dinner raid was carried out.

Several cheers from the audience ensued as the theft was ingeniously carried out, and both of them vanished just before the careers returned to their camp, and then relocated.

Suddenly, a fire bloomed inside the mine, and Aelita's eyes widened.

_Oh no._

Her mouth opened as she and Odd sat together by the fire, and her mind recited the words spoken on screen.

_Words about dancing together in a field of grass, somewhere far away._

Silence gripped the theater as they hugged, and Aelita clutched the chair as they began to paint tar on each other with their fingers, and the little heart appeared on her cheek at the end.

And then, they kissed.

Hundreds of sighs of admiration ensued, and Aelita could only sit and watch in a spiral of helplessness.

One, and then two tears drifted down her face as they snuggled together in the sleeping bag again, and a time-lapse moved along to the next morning.

And out of nowhere, a chase!

The pair ran downhill in terror as they were pursued by the careers, and Aelita was suddenly tackled, and subdued by the District 7 girl again.

Blood was spilled as her chin was cut open, but Odd suddenly came to the rescue, met more with cheers as the pair disappeared, and the girl was found and killed by the pack of careers.

The day suddenly turned to night again, and the pair found the fallen logs, and cuddled together in the bag under the leaves.

_And kissed again._

A scream suddenly pierced the air amongst the crashing of trees, and the screen burst into more running of another chase in the daytime, but as soon as the tributes found the mine -

The monster bird appeared, and the bridge was suddenly destroyed as it thrashed around, and then pulled out Aquila and flew away, met with lots of horrified reactions from the theater audience as Aelita squirmed in her seat

Cuts of the remaining tributes huddling in fear was suddenly interrupted by the bird's return, and within moments, Tatius was flung into the trees to his death, and the bird suddenly flew at Odd and Aelita, only to be pelted with the axe from her throw, and fly away after crashing into them.

Aelita cringed as she watched herself eye the gash across her arm, and the footage cut to the medicine being applied to it, and her pain-riddled reaction to it.

Then, the next morning, more talking, and one more sweet little kiss.

Her eyes sank from the screen, and more tears ran down her face.

_Three._

The screen changed to Odd appearing in the doorway with tinder, and for a moment, all was silent.

She then watched in horror as Shimmer appeared and stabbed Odd, and he sank to his knees as she stepped over and strangled her.

Her heart beat furiously, watching as she almost died, and Odd suddenly drug himself up, stabbed Shimmer in the back, drug her to the floor, and then stabbing her in the stomach twice.

Aelita's hand sat over her mouth as she helped the blonde outside, but the picture changed to them on the ground, with Odd visibly bleeding. And dying.

They kissed one last time, and Aelita simply broke down, covering her eyes with both of her hands and weeping, hearing the words spoken on screen, and then the audience's reaction as a mass of people burst into tears.

_Odd..._

The screen changed from the scene, showing her wandering through the forest in misery, and within moments, Lucent was killed by the boy from 10, who was then killed by Aelita.

A mixture of fierce applause and sorrowful sobs rose into the air after the film ended, leaving Aelita in a dejected state as tears streamed from her eyes, covered by her hands.

_Now I see why they didn't use any serious makeup..._

The chair was turned around, but the audience was surprisingly sympathetic, waiting patiently as she slowly recuperated, lifting her head, and looking at the host sitting next to her.

"Aelita..."

She took in a breath, and Caesar handed her his handkerchief, pausing further as she wiped her eyes.

"You survived, because you were blessed with that boy as an ally and a friend."

She sniffed.

"Sometimes... I think he... Should have been the victor... But its too late."

"I've heard he promised to keep you alive. And it looks like he kept his promise."

Her eyes sank.

"He did. And I can never thank him enough for being so... Selfless."

"A loyal young man to the end."

She rubbed her eyes with her fingers.

"I just wish now... That we had more time together."

More cries and sighs of sympathy ensued, and Caesar reached his arm over, setting it onto her shoulder.

"Aelita... Wherever he is now, I'm sure he's proud of you. For trusting him after all, and going on to win."

She smiled weakly as more tears wandered down her face and were rubbed away with the handkerchief, and he then stood up and helped her to her feet, turning to the audience.

He grasped her hand and raised her arm, and both of them looked out into the audience.

"Ladies and gentleman... Aelita Schaeffer - This year's victor, of the fifty-seventh annual Hunger Games!"

The audience erupted into a mass of elation and cheers, and Aelita sighed sadly, drowned out by the celebration in front of her.

_If only it didn't end this way..._

* * *

Less than an hour later, Aelita sat, up high in the center balcony of President Snow's very own mansion.

The avenue that hosted the tribute parade each year split the roaring crowd of many thousands of citizens in the stands below, running straight from the mansion to the remake center in the distance.

She looked over, and her skin grew cold, watching as Panem's very own leader, President Snow, approached her slowly, a golden crown in his hands.

She stood as he slowed to a halt in front of her, and with a look into his unnervingly calm eyes, she steeled herself, trying not to shake.

_Currently staring at the most powerful man in the world..._

"Miss Schaeffer."

She blinked from the equally calm voice, having never heard him in person.

Studying her tense, worried demeanor, he offered a smile, and his arms raised up.

"...Congratulations."

The crown settled atop her head, and she exhaled, wide eyed, as he turned, and stood at the nearby podium.

_Yeah... Congratulations, me._


	21. Chapter 21

Aelita stared out of the car window in a haze of thought as she and Markell were driven to the train station.

Only minutes earlier, already emotionally depleted, she was subject to a sad goodbye from her three stylists, and a promise to send home both dresses someday soon.

_Not that fancy clothes that probably won't be worn again matter anyway..._

She turned and looked briefly at her mentor sitting next to her, but his attention was also beyond the window glass.

"Have you ever been... To District 3?"

He blinked, and looked at her, shaking his head.

"...Have you been outside of the Capitol?"

He shook his head again, and she sighed.

"They're two different worlds."

He offered a smile.

"I'm up for a change of scenery."

"Factories?"

"We have them here. They're mostly underground though."

Her eyes wandered back to the window.

"Just making sure you know what my home is like."

"I've been briefed quite well about your District, Aelita."

The car pulled to a stop, and both of them discovered a jubilant crowd lining the entrance to the train station just beyond as peacekeepers kept a path open. People shouted and cheered as they were escorted by more peacekeepers up and into the building, and a further crush of Capitol citizens populated the platforms around a waiting train.

Aelita's heart beat steadily as flowers were thrown to her by fans, and she offered occasional waves as the group fought their way to the train.

Stepping up inside the door of one of the coaches, she turned around, and after looking over the crowd, waved her hand in a broad arc.

_Thank you, bloodthirsty Capitol people, for bothering to show sympathy towards me..._

She disappeared inside, and the door slid shut, locking her in as she wandered into one of the cars, eying the blue carpet below.

She found a seat on a nearby chair, and within minutes, felt herself start to lean over from acceleration as the train began to move.

She looked out of the window as the station disappeared from behind, replaced by the dark walls of a tunnel, and then, rounding a curve, the train sped over the viaduct in front of the gigantic dam, and the Capitol city, standing proudly in the distance, suddenly vanished from sight.

_Never, ever imagined seeing that._

She stood up, and cautiously walked over to the table nearby, eying the bottles of colored liquid with curiosity.

Her fingers lifted the glass cork from one filled with something purple, and she raised the bottle to her nose, blinking from a whiff of strong liquor.

She lifted the neck to her lips, and a portion of the purple liquid ran into her mouth, suddenly attacking her taste buds with an unexpectedly sour, fruity taste.

A swallow and another mouthful later, she looked over at the door when Markell suddenly walked through it, and paused, eying her.

"...Well, I'm not surprised. Your room is two cars down this way, Aelita."

He walked over, slowly smiling as she looked between him and the glass bottle in her hands.

"If you're drinking the sour stuff... Your tongue is going to burn tomorrow."

She looked at the bottle, setting it back onto the counter daintily, and plucking one of the bottles of brown alcohol instead.

"That's better... Come with me. I want to make sure you know where to pass out for the night."


	22. Chapter 22

A dark orange sunset faded in the sky, following the sun down into the black silhouette of mountains and forest beyond.

Aelita sat, staring out of the window of the train with her face pressed against the thick pane of glass.

Rounding a curve, she leaned away from the window, and an empty glass bottle slipped off her lap and fell onto the carpet below, joining the other sitting nearby.

_Yeah... Not really feeling impressionable right now._

Her eyes wandered over to the other bottles in the distance, but a previously untouched arrangement of sweets sat near the alcohol, catching her eye.

She stood to her feet, but the subtle motion of the train caused her even further difficulty with balance as she walked over to the counter.

She pored over the desserts, and her hand found a slice of white cake, pulling it out of a small circle of different flavors. One large bite, and she leaned onto the counter, enjoying what she discovered to be a blend of white chocolate and cream cheese.

_Dreamy._

She reached over, and attempted to tug a napkin from a holder, but the dispenser simply followed her hand, sliding along and falling off the counter to the floor.

She looked at the napkin wad in her hand, and shook her head as she set the bundle aside, and wiped her fingers with one, setting the cake slice onto another.

Her eyes wandered up to a small dish of brightly colored... Wiggling jelly things, and she watched closely as they shook from the slightest motion of the train.

Her fingers reached up and carefully lifted the platter from the metal prongs it sat upon, and shakily brought it down in front of her, watching as her own instability was transferred into the blobs.

_Only the weirdest food things ever..._

The door next to her suddenly slid open, and she she jumped, only to be startled again when the dish previously in her fingers dropped onto the counter and broke.

She watched as Markell stepped around the corner, blushing as he looked over the relative mess inside the coach.

"You remember where your bed is, right?"

She nodded, pushing the broken chunks of the platter together, and then watched as he walked over and picked up one of the jelly blobs and took a bite out of it.

"Just making sure."

She eyed him as he walked back out of the coach with a humored smile, and then blinked, looking at the counter her hands sat upon after the door shut again.

_No. Actually, I don't remember._

She exhaled, flicking one of the other jellies momentarily before picking it up and eating it.

_I'll just sleep in here anyway... Who cares._

Her hands slipped underneath the cake slice, and as she walked, she plucked a third, stubby bottle of alcohol from the metal stand, wandering back over to the seats, but then feeling obligated to sit cross legged on the floor.

She pulled the glass cork out with her mouth, and spat it aside, taking a drink out of the bottle, and then grimacing and coughing after swallowing.

_Not even home yet, and look at me..._


	23. Chapter 23

"_Aelita!_"

She turned around from the voice, but saw nothing behind.

"_Aelita_..."

She paused.

"Mom...?"

"_Aelita_."

She huffed, turning around from another eerily familiar voice.

"Hello...?"

"_Hey, Aelita!_"

She gasped, knowing the source of that voice quite well.

"What!"

"_I'm over here_."

She turned again, but seeing nothing, blinked.

"_Aelita, dear, look at me_."

Her skin crawled.

"I can't see you!"

"_Aelita, we're right here!_"

She turned once more, but then recoiled in shock.

In a group, amongst the darkness, were the faces of her mother, father, and... Odd.

"_I told you, we're right here._"

She stared at them in disbelief.

"But..."

"_It's just us, Aelita_."

"I... How did you all..."

"_There's no need for so many questions, Aelita_."

"You're all... Dead!" She screamed.

The faces grew silent, and looked at each other.

"_I don't feel dead_..."

"_Aelita dear, you must be seeing things."_

Her mouth hung open briefly as she stared at them.

"No... You're dead. You're all dead." She spoke, shaking.

"_What makes you say that?_"

Her heart ached viciously from the blonde's voice.

"Odd... I... Watched you die. You were murdered. All of you were murdered."

Their expressions of confusion, all changed to anger at once.

"_Did you murder us, Aelita?_"

She stepped back, eyes wide.

"What? NO! I didn't kill any of you!"

"_You just told us we were murdered!_"

"You WERE! People KILLED all of you! Why would I ever want to kill any of you?!"

"_That's what we want to know, Aelita!_"

She shook her head, spiraling in despair.

"I... Loved... all of you. I could never have killed the people I love!"

"_If you loved us all so much, why did you let us get killed?_"

Her head sank, and she began to shut down.

"I... Don't know. There was nothing I could do when all of you died."

"_NOTHING? You couldn't do anything to save us?_"

"Nothing... You all were beyond saving... I couldn't..."

She sank to her knees, shaking.

"_Aelita, if you can't do anything to help anybody... Why are you still alive?_"

She looked at her hands, before pressing them against her face.

"I... Don't... Know."

* * *

Her eyes opened to the dark interior of the passenger car, and a bottle sat empty nearby as she lay on the floor.

As soon as her mind began to review the dream, tears began to stream down her face, and she quietly sobbed.

_Why am I alive... When everybody I love is dead?_

Her hand drug along the carpet in a failed attempt to move herself, and she shut her eyes in defeat, weeping in a miserable mess on the floor.

Getting drunk wasn't a good choice after all.


	24. Chapter 24

Markell stepped inside the coach, blinking as the sunlight through the windows revealed an interesting picture.

Three bottles, a napkin with the smeared remains of cake, and an overturned chair from the nearby table, sat around a disheveled, sleeping Aelita.

He walked over and knelt next to her, shaking her shoulder briefly, and rousing her from the depths of her slumber.

She blinked, looking at him.

"Rough night?"

She simply rolled her eyes, unfurling from her curled position on the floor, and Markell stood as she groggily attempted to push herself upright.

She found her way up onto her feet, and he eyed her as she swayed, looking visibly pale in the light.

"You don't look so..."

His eyes followed her as she stumbled and fell right back onto the floor, sprawling onto the carpet.

She rolled over, and he exhaled, crouching down and helping her up to her feet again in a hurry.

Her head flopped down and her arm gripped his shoulder briefly, and he began to lead her along towards the door.

"Yoouuu are about to lose whatever you had last night."

He helped her into a bathroom, and she stared down at the toilet, her arms propping herself up.

_I'mmmm dying..._

Her insides churned, and with a wave of cold and buzzing going through her skin, she knew exactly what was coming.

_The price of being a drunkard for the night..._

She dry-heaved repeatedly, and Markell simply walked out of the room as Aelita began to audibly vomit behind, rolling his eyes as he leaned against the wall outside.

Retch after retch, the liquor that went in, was forced right back out of her insides.

He sighed.

_Poor girl only picked the strongest of the lot, and didn't even know it._

* * *

Several agonizing minutes later, Aelita sat back, shaking, throat burning, and overall feeling quite pathetic.

She looked over as Markell appeared with a bundle of clothes, and set them onto the sink.

"Take a shower and you'll feel a lot better. Breakfast is in half an hour."

The door simply shut, and her eyes wandered from it, over to the shower stall she sat next to.

_What a horrid start to the day..._

* * *

Showered, dressed, and almost awake, Aelita groggily wandered down the hall into a different coach, and Markell motioned her over to the dining table he sat at, piled high with food.

She pulled one of the chairs out and sat in it, looking over the array of breakfast available, but he then pushed over a mug of coffee.

"Start with toast... If you feel fine, go from there and have whatever. Last thing everybody in 3 needs to see is you vomiting in front of them."

She blinked, dragging over a slice of toast, and then a portion of scrambled eggs, and putting them on top of it, before taking a bite out of the combination.

She waited briefly, but the only reaction was increased hunger after swallowing.

_Should be fine..._

She resumed eating, and her mentor casually checked his watch.

"We'll be in the station in... Half an hour."

She paused, swallowing.

"Hurry up and eat. You need to be ready as soon as we arrive."

Her eyes sank down to her plate with relative disbelief.

_Home! In minutes!_


	25. Chapter 25

Aelita's heart beat hard as the train began to slow down, and she quickly finished brushing her hair, before stepping into the hallway of the car, and staring out of the window at the familiar industrial skyline beyond.

_District 3._

_Home._

She walked down the hall back into the same open coach from the night before, but was glued to the view outside of the glass, watching as the train coasted past several freight trains in the railroad yard, before entering the station and gliding to a halt alongside the platforms.

_Empty platforms..._

"Here we are." Markell spoke, walking up next to her.

She looked from the window to him, and he nudged her shoulder.

"Let's not keep them waiting. I hear they're quite excited to see you."

Her eyes went back to the window, and then they walked along to the end of the coach, stepping through the opening door and down onto the platform.

The familiar scent of industry greeted her nose, and she took in a lungful of air.

"I never... Thought I'd come back to this place."

She resumed walking, and both of them were joined by a squad of peacekeepers once they approached the main concourse of the station.

With not a single person besides them, Aelita grew worried as they went through the station, and outside to an awaiting car.

The doors shut, and Aelita looked at her mentor as the sedan drove along the road.

"Where is everybody?"

He offered a smile.

"You'll see."

Stepping out of the car again, she looked up at the backside of a vaguely familiar building, and an arm went around her shoulder, leading her along up to the door.

Faded stone above the entrance displayed '**HALL OF JUSTICE**', and she exhaled, realizing why she recognized the building as soon as she saw the plush, crimson interior.

_Sad days were spent inside this building... Being declared an orphan, dropping from school for employment..._

_Days when you didn't always have enough money for food, but didn't dare to get Tesserae... Days of roaming the industrial landscape, pilfering from people and even trains on occasion..._

_Days of fighting for survival. Only to fight for it again in an even higher extreme of danger._

_Nothing seems to change anymore..._

She looked up as the main doors of the Justice Building were opened, and suddenly found herself on the stone deck.

Overlooking thousands of people.

Several individuals gasped, and then thousands of eyes and voices realized that she stood before them, and within seconds, a tidal wave of applause suddenly roared across the land, leaving her mouth agape as every single citizen in the massive square cheered and clapped and whistled in a cacophony of appreciation.

Her heart beat fiercely as she looked over the crowd.

_I must still be human to experience this..._

She waved her hand to everybody, and a smile of disbelief spread across her face.

_District 3. Everybody is happy to see me back._

_Two weeks ago, nobody knew me. And now everybody knows me._

_I survived the games._

_I am a victor. Their Victor._

_District 3's very own victor. The first in years._

_That's why, after all the horror, my people are proud of me. I outlasted everything the Capitol threw at me, and everybody that tried to kill me._

_A lowly orphan girl from District 3, won the Hunger Games._

_Maybe that is something they can be proud of..._


	26. Chapter 26

Rung, after rung.

The girl climbed up a long, caged ladder, and pulled herself up onto a small platform, ringing the top of one of the tallest smokestacks in the industrial zone of District 3.

She walked along, watching as a column of steam and smoke silently billowed from the top of the steel and brick structure, and then leaning against the handrail, looking out over the factories and apartments, and the occasional cluster of freight trains spread across the busy industrial landscape.

The occasional wisp of wind tossed her red hair, and she sighed.

_My name is Aelita Schaeffer._

_Two months ago, I was a tribute in Panem's Fifty Seventh Hunger Games._

_I found friendship and love, and then lost both in the brutal fight for survival. I murdered. I stole. And somehow, with everybody trying to kill me, I survived._

_Now, back home, my world has changed._

_I am wealthy. I no longer starve. I live in an empty neighborhood of large homes with my mentor, and at one point, I had absolutely nothing to do._

_Now, I work. Not for money, but simply to pass the time. Three days a week of developing high-efficiency machinery and electrical technology._

_Working, just to keep myself busy. Almost as laughable as passing off money to the less fortunate around me..._

_Mark doesn't like it, but he turns the other way when I venture into the depths of District 3, and spread my wealth - Or, rather, the Capitol's wealth that they're giving to me until I die._

_Reparations for ruining my life for their entertainment._

Her eyes followed a train as it departed a siding, only to enter another less than a mile away.

_In four months, as I've been told, the so-called Victory tour will begin. Visiting the districts, and thanking them for sending their kids to die. A special kind of nightmare to keep everyone scared and angry until the Fifty-Eighth games come along._

She looked out into the horizon as the sun wandered briefly behind a cloud.

_My mentor doesn't know it, but somehow, when I arrive in District 8, I'm going to find Odd's family. Talk to them. Tell them I plan to help, for everything their son did to keep me alive._

_From there... I just have to figure out how I can send them a ton of money without anybody noticing._

_Maybe then, if that all works, I can go on and live my life in peace... When I'm not mentoring future tributes, and watching them go off and die._

_Hopefully, none of them will make the same mistakes I did... They won't survive no matter what, if they do._

* * *

**END.  
**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Nick**


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